by Amanda Rose
The man was quite old. His grey hair was on the verge of white, and his moustache was rather quaint. He had a weathered face with many wrinkles. He wore a faded blue pair of overalls, and gold rimmed pair of spectacles, and hummed a gentle tune as he went about his daily tasks. Suako prayed he wouldn’t see her, while simultaneously contemplating the actual result of it happening. He was one of those citizens who travelled from the lower class in to Grid One to work all day, just to go home with little more to fill their pockets and feed their families.
The heat radiating from the furnace started to burn Suako. She felt sweat dripping off her face like a water fall, trickling down her neck, and creating a river on her arms. Her scalp began to tingle, and then her nerves started to scream as the intensity of the heat increased. Her supporting arms quivered and she prayed for the strength the wait it out.
Just as he had come, the man left, taking a mop and pail with him. As soon as she heard the slam of the door twang she dropped her bottom to the floor and quickly crawled away. Suako let out a extravagant squawk, then coughed and exorbitantly sucked in clean air, away from the dizzying gas line. For a moment she let her body relax. Her shoulders dropped, and ribs cage collapsed. Close call…
The following hours consisted of many tasks being taken care of. Mei and Kato had met up with Mack, as they by chance caught sight of Kairu peering out the door to check the floor. They waited for Jenko and Tamiko to return. Vince had made his way threw the same drainpipe Adamu and Seresuto had earlier that day, and escaped from Grid One with Renee. Suako continued to drop off her special “presents”, planting them around the building. Seresuto and Adam had reached the city outskirts and snuck out beyond the dome. They were almost ready…
Final Preparations… This is it… Please, oh please let this work! … And please, let everyone be safe…
Chapter 27: The Final Showdown
It was nearing one O’clock in the afternoon, and all electrical systems were still malfunctioning. The mess downstairs was irreversible, there was no fixing it, it required replacement. Nervous tension was peaking in Tamiko’s office. The light of day was the only comfort; the sun was bright against the crystal clear blue sky. It twinkled and made rainbows through glass that projected around the room.
Human traffic had remained fairly light, with the power outage, the building wasn’t filled to the brim with employees. Turned away at the door, Mack had figured. It was exactly what he had wanted, the less bodies the better. Detoured civilians were preferable to a mass of wandering eyes with questioning brains.
Every so often the vents would flare up in a distracting way, sending warm air into the little room to ward off the airy chill of late winter. Out the windows, the city streets doled farewell to the melting snow. The red light had automatically shut off at daybreak. It was almost too clean in Tamiko’s office; everything was in its place, even her random work piles seemed to be neat and tidy. Pens were arranged by size, books alphabetised on the shelves, color coded files, and on top of it all, not a speck of dust.
Yu-Lee had reverted to being quite reserved, so they left her alone. While they waited, they snooped threw Tamiko’s documents and file folders. It was time to explore all they could while they were still able. Most of what was pulled had no great importance, many financial figures and profit graphs; they were making money from providing virtually nothing.
As time ticked on, the more the pile of overviewed data sheets accumulated. It was dry to read, and their boredom levels increased. The energetic vibe was practically null and void at this point. Kairu dropped the binder he’d been looking at, he grew weary of the accounting section. He ventured over to the Maintenance headed section and grabbed a random folder. Kairu’s eyes skimmed over another droll looking sheet. Moments later his head jolted back and eyes widened, and his lip parted slightly, lifting to a smile. “Mack, I found something,” he crawled over the mounds of piled bundles of information. “Take a look,” he said handing Mack the papers.
Mack took the document in his hand. Everyone else put down their reading material to inspect what was being reviewed. Mack took in the eyeful. The same daft response Kairu had given had been repeated through Mack. He chuckled, “This is great,” he spoke to the page. “Listen up everyone,” Mack addressed them, “Kairu found a list of every reactor location. Now we can take them all out. Kudos Kairu,” Mack said without lifting his eye from the page. A round of praise followed Mack’s lead.
A breeze blew up from the south. It carried with it the essence from the ocean. It was soothing, yet gave warning of a turning tide. The gravel crunched beneath the weight of the tires. The smell faded away, as did the roar of the engine as Vince turned it off. He left the keys in the ignition. His door handle clicked as he pulled it to release its closed hold to the body of the vehicle. He hopped out onto the ground and slammed the door shut, and then circled the pickup truck, and opened the passenger door. Cat-like Renee stirred from her sleep. “We’re here,” Vince told her, waking her up.
Vince scooped her up off of the seat, and hit the door, to close it, with his foot. It swung in and made a faint noise to indicate a secure closed hold. The gravel rustled under his feet as he walked. Renee squinted her eyes in pain, it hadn’t been since her first few years alive that she’d seen the sun. Renee couldn’t remember it, and It attacked her eyes like a plague. “What is it?” she groaned in a child-like whine. “The sun. You’ll get used to it,” he tried to comfort her.
Up the path of the junkyard, Vince made his way to the great big doors of their hideout. He sat Renee down as he hauled the massive doors open. Within everything had been just as it was when they’d left so many months ago. The table and out-slid stools still rested in the middle of the immensely wide space. Hidden around the corner, to the right, Vince could visualise the shower with it’s fire-hydrant red shower curtain, and the blue patch in the center of it that’s seams were loosening.
It felt safe to him here; the was the best place to go. Vince lifted Renee back up, and she wrapped her scrawny arms back around his neck to support herself. Vince took her to the far back of the building and laid her down on a mattress. He attended to her with some blankets. Although they were old and worn they were warm. The journey had exhausted Renee, and she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Vince fetched her some water and some jarred applesauce he remembered they’d had stored there. Vince stroked the side of her face until she jolted awake. Renee screamed and then saw her surroundings and calmed down. Vince’s warm face helped to relax her neurotic nature. He lifted her head with his hand, and held the glass of water up to her cracked dry lips. As best she could, she drank it down. Some droplets dribbled down her chin, she pulled away and Vince set he back down.
Renee’s eyes asked him ‘why?’ again and again. He couldn’t find an answer to verbalise. They did not break eye contact for several minutes, as he ran his fingers through what was left of her depleting hair. Her eyes closed gradually and she wept. A recollection of her sister stroking her in the same loving way, as they lay in their dank cell, cropped up in her mind. Renee was drifting to sleep. Before she completely left the waking world, Vince leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “I’m going back for Suako. You’ll be all right here. I promise I’ll come back for you. Nothing bad will happen to you like that ever again.” More tears sprouted from her eyes. She rocked her head minutely to acknowledge his words, but was now a little too distracted to sleep. Vince cradled her in his arms and recited a poem to her to help relax her.
“Soft breezes,
Off of the Aquarius sea,
Rustle through leaves,
Which speak to me.
Dancing stars,
Twinkle on the velvet cloth of night,
As fireflies glow,
Above flowers in a green meadow…”
Vince had reiterated the poem in a flowing rhythm. The simplistic juvenile poem appealed to the child Renee never had a chance to grow up from. She nodded off, and he
lay her down gently. He parted her side with a kiss to her forehead.
Though the building population had significantly decreased, the maintenance crews, and the soldier patrol, were working in high gear. It was tricky to move down the hallways, and took a timed strategy that included dodging in and out of the rooms along the way. Suako’s ears listened as sharply as a bat’s. It was taking a frustratingly long time to move from place to place, and time was running out…
The poison of the real world struck immediately. Seresuto and Adamu felt near the point of respiratory failure after crossing through into the vast outstretched lands outside of Torusan. Seresuto nearly collapsed from the drastic shock she endured. Adamu, not much stronger, helped her to walk. They stumbled with fuzzy vision across the southern badlands toward the beach shore. Adamu had tunnel vision for the dock where they’d come in.
By mid afternoon Tamiko and Jenko returned to Tamiko’s office where everyone else had been waiting. Kato and Mei had gathered the story from Kazuo and Mack about Yu-Lee’s strained relationship with her. When they first saw the young dominatrix looking woman they were thrown aback by her resemblance to her mother. Tamiko was the spitting image of Yu-Lee, only slightly more youthful, and with much different fashion taste. Tamiko’s sour expression had not varied in the least. “How did it go?” Kazuo asked looking at the fatigued Jenko. “Good. It was just hard to find. There was so much down there. Tamiko found it quickly considering…” he shrugged, “No one questioned us either.” “Good,” Mack was relieved. Jenko pulled the file free from the innards of his coat. He passed it off to Mack, who in turn gave it to Kairu.
“What?” Kairu said taking it. “I want you to take that. It’s your responsibility to keep that safe, and get it out of here,” Mack told him. Mack needed Kairu to have a reason to regard his life after his distress for Masumi. “Why me?” Kairu asked baffled. “Because, your highness, you are the most vital person to get out of here now. You have a rule to overtake. We have to watch your back anyway, and this keeps thing simple. The fewer worries the better,” Mack replied tightening his leather finger free gloves around his hands. Kairu starred at the papers, and after giving it some thought, Kairu responsibly accepted, “Right.”
Mack clipped on an extra ammunition belt, and clicked the safety off on his riffle, as well as his holstered gun. Mei fastened on an emergency blade, binding it to her ankle. Yu-Lee borrowed a handgun from Kato, and tried to clear her mind. Each fixed them self up in their own way for battle. Once Mack was ready, he stepped up to the impatient looking Tamiko, looking fearlessly into her eyes and said with a grin, “Now, Tamiko, we’d like to see Genjo.”
They had Tamiko set up everything under their guiding influence. She’d used a device that connected the building, called a “telecommunication system” which worked regardless of the power outage. It allowed voice waves to travel along a wire and be heard at the other end of the wire just as if someone was speaking right next to you. Kairu remembered seeing the same thing in Tomakomai. Tamiko used it to arrange the meeting with Genjo.
All that was left to do was wait; the meeting was set for 1700h. It left just enough time for a brief discussion to prepare a plan of attack. They had thirty minutes before the meeting to get their strategy ready. Kairu practised some of his offensive moves, which Mei paid close attention to. Yu-Lee had Kato show her the best way to aim, and how to deal with the recoil of her gun. The others simply sat around waiting, focusing their minds.
“I’m glad you’re alive Kazuo,” Mack told his long-lost friend. “I knew you’d find me. It’s all I held onto all those years… You really saved me. Thank you, Mack,” Kazuo held out his hand to shake Mack’s. “Kazuo… I… it took so long…” Despite Mack’s excuses Kazuo simply shook his head and kept his arm extended. Mack gave in and took Kazuo’s hand. Kazuo shook and then pulled Mack in for a hug. “Thank you, my friend,” Kazuo said from the bottom of his heart. Mack could barely keep his composure.
Just enough for one more floor… I’m so tired… Suako rested her pounding head in her hands. She slid down the wall she leaned against to the floor. She had worked non-stop for the entire day, and the strain was catching up to her. Her stomach was protesting from not being fed, and her dry throat scratched her as she breathed. I need to finish… Suako tried to stand back up. Her legs had turned into jelly and would not comply.
Suako sat there on the floor of a storage closet. There were no windows, but the door was cracked open just slightly, letting in light. Every so often some booted feet stomped on by. Her chest caved in with every exasperated breath. Suako felt her eyelids getting heavy, and she rested them closed. Suako’s arms fell limply to her sides, motionless she rested on the hard-ceramic floor.
Renee… Why didn’t I get you when I left? What happened? I can’t remember… Wait! I do remember. I did look for you… I had been running. That stupid, stupid doctor… I was covered in his blood, it was dripping from my hair, and it stained my skin… I left the sword, but kept the gun... The halls were so dark, so long, and I was so tired… Somehow, I was running, the callus on my feet cracked. My muscles screamed in agony. So much pain… The scar… the laser wound was still burning…
For a moment Suako hushed her brain. Her thoughts dwelled solely about her mutilated stomach. Suako rubbed her hand over her belly, her fingers groping over the rise and fall of sloping scar tissue between patches of unaffected flesh. Her hand began to quiver as she touched the squiggly laser inflicted scar.
I found the lab you were in… I looked in and they were working on you… You weren’t moving. I couldn’t see you breathing… but that wasn’t enough for me. I went to go in, but… then I saw that it… you’re monitor didn’t show a heart rate… It was flat… but… you really weren’t dead. I’m so, so sorry… Renee…
Now on his own, Vince made excellent time. He’d crossed the terrain, heading back towards grid one, speedily in the truck. After burning rubber, he left the truck, and ducked back into the storm drains. He hurried through the tunnels back the way he’d come earlier. The water was freezing, and the foul odour was sickening. A mix of melted snow, dirt, garbage and random indiscernible things, were carried in off the streets, which made up this soup of filth he trudged through. Ignoring it, he waded his way through the cylinder tube of flowing drainage.
“It’s time,” Tamiko announced, looking up from her watch. “Good,” Mack rubbed his fists together. Like a military accompaniment, they flocked around Tamiko as she went down the hall. Some random soldier had passed by them without a word. They dipped into the stairwell, and Mei and Kato winced upon the very first step, their hamstring pain came back to life all too quickly.
Just two stories up they went, and as they did Yu-Lee dashed up to Mack’s side and whispered to him, “Please, don’t harm Tamiko.” “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” he took Yu-Lee’s hand, “I promise.” Back out into the polished looking halls, they stepped out of the stairwell. Two adjoining thick wooden doors awaited them at the very end of the hall, and they seemed to grow larger with every step forward. Kazuo felt the heat of the sun through the floor to ceiling windows lining this hallway. He’d not felt such glorious radiant heat in years, and missed the simple pleasure terribly. The thought of that alone injected him with the courage to enter the conference room ahead.
Mei and Kato interlocked fingers, and kissed each other while walking; both pulsating with a burning passion for revenge that was preparing to erupt. What had been awaited so long to achieve was now but a few footsteps away. They treaded lightly on the floor, with a feeling of divine inner peace. The past soon could be kept in the past, and old ghosts laid to rest.
Jenko walked alongside Mack, he supported his long-term friend to the bitter end. He had found himself feeling a new sense of commitment. No longer was he simply tagging along for the journey, Jenko felt an obligation to his planet. Yu-Lee attended Jenko’s other side, and she was ready to fight for that which she had dedicated all of her existence to: Life.
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The ever unyielding and unwavering appeal of Mack kept up its appearance. His will was as strong as iron, and he was ready to make his assault. This would be the icing on the cake. The Company had made its mistake by bringing them here, something they would not have been able to do on their own. They only invisible way to sneak into grid one was threw the drainpipes, which, can only be unlocked and opened from the grid one side. Now they could bring down the C.D.F.P. at its core, and as well, prevent its reconstruction. Justice… Sweet, sweet justice.
Every piece of the walk down that last stretch of their journey inscribed itself forever within them. The smell was of a waxed floor drying, coffee in the air, and Tamiko’s rose perfume. The granite floors shimmered in the daylight. Maroon curtains were drawn back from the eyes of windows by gold tasselled ropes. Every set of doors was of a dark walnut wood, and the wallpaper was rich yellow-orange, with deep brown trim that matched the wood of the doors. It was peacefully quiet less for their footsteps. The doors came…
Uhn… Where am I?… What’s that beeping? Ugh… stop… Oh no! Suako sprang awake. “Fuck! What time is it?” she smacked her head getting up too fast in the dark. Dumping everything back into her satchel, Suako threw it over her shoulder, struggling with the strap for her other arm. To the door she went and peeked out the crack. The coast was clear, and it was still light out. She breathed a relieving sigh. You’re lucky… damn lucky girl…
“Hello,” Mack announced their entry in a cocky tone, confident, and filled with bitter anger. Tamiko ran in and over to Koto who stood by his father. The windowless room was constructed all out of wood from the swamps of Quan. Portraits of past C.D.F.P. chairmen filled the wood panel divots. A mahogany boarder, carved uniquely for each individual leader, framed each portrait. Genjo sat beneath his father’s picture at the far end of the room, at the head of the conference table.
Around a polished black glass table, Genjo had been waiting. The podgy man reached for his glasses without any sense of haste. Yoshida sat to the right of Genjo, and his jaw had nearly hit the table when her saw Mack and his entourage stroll in. Yoshida went to stand up, but the rise of Mack’s hand had him lower himself back into his seat. Mei and Kato took sentry at the flank, and closed the doors. They slammed as if to make the statement, You’re trapped!
